For What It's Worth
by TheConqueror74
Summary: In a Cordyceps ravaged world, follow one man's desperate bid for survival as he tries to escape his hunter.


I burst through the cracked remains of the door into the building. There was no time to think; the bastard chasing me was hot on my heels and I was completely out of breath. I scrambled and ran for the nearest bookshelf and slid behind it when I got close. Although most of the windows at the entrance of the building had been blown out, the ceiling was still intact – keeping the store dry and clean. I deeply inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth, desperately trying to force by breathing to return to normal even as my heart continued to thrash about inside my chest.

I had barely managed to skirt behind a second bookshelf when I heard the bastard enter the building. I darted diagonally, trying to distance myself from the door, before moving hopefully moving into the left side of the building and my freedom.

Everywhere I moved, I heard footsteps right behind, inching closer with every step I took. I could feel their burning hatred bearing down on me, just waiting to bore a white-hot hole in my body. So I kept moving, deeper and deeper into the building. The pounding footsteps grew closer and closer, getting louder with every step until they exploded in a cacophonous crescendo as I came face to face with a blank wall. The violent, earth-shaking crashing of the footsteps echoed around me as I desperately searched for an exit. The footsteps gave way as my heart tried desperately to rip itself free. Blood rushed through my body and pulsed through my ears before being joined by panicked breathing.

With nowhere left to run, I dropped to the ground behind the nearest bookshelf that wasn't sitting up against a wall. I grabbed my head, trying to crush the sounds pummeling my brain. And it worked; the harder I pressed down, the quieter the sounds got. It wasn't until everything drained and left only a slight ringing in my ears that I was able to catch my breath.

This newfound silence allowed me to listen on my purser. I could faintly make out the sounds of boots scraping against the rotting carpet; just loud enough for me to decipher that the bastard was still far away, but not loud enough for me to be able to picture where he was.

I began to slowly make my way across the building, trying to move from bookshelf to bookshelf. I briefly paused between two of them, listening for the real footsteps, trying judge how close they were to me. I slowly and deliberately set my feet on the ground with each step, cautiously making my way across the length of the bookcase.

I paused once again, listening intensely for the sound of footsteps. The second I went to move across the raised area of floor that marked the children's section, I heard a voice boom out.

"Why don't we make this easier on the both of us," he said. "Just come on out, wherever you are, and we can finally settle this. Like men!"

Instead of moving through the children's section, I moved up a couple of rows and back across the bookshelf. I knew the gambit he was trying to play and I was going to see if I could use it to my advantage. Once I was in position I listened in once again, just to make sure he wasn't close to me.

"So that's how it's going to be huh? A silent game? What, too afraid to talk now?"

"We don't have to do this!" As soon as the words left my mouth I darted across the bookshelf and moved back up the rows as quickly as I could, returning to my position next to the children's section. It didn't take long for me to realize the stupidity of my plan when he rapidly advanced on my position, making any attempt to cross the children's section a sure fire death sentence.

I began to backtrack, trying to make my way back to far point of the building. The bastard caught on to my plan fairly quickly, forcing me to zigzag between the rows more than I was actually moving forward. It seemed like every few steps I was looking over my shoulder, trying to keep track of where the bastard was. Every now and again I'd catch a glimpse of his head over the top of a bookshelf. With every glimpse he drew closer and closer. There was no time to pause and listen for how close he was, as the space between sightings became smaller and smaller.

I was quickly running out of cover; there were only a couple of bookshelves left before I'd be pinned against a wall. I moved rows once again and peeked behind myself; I briefly saw the top of his head just one shelf behind me. I darted between rows again. I stayed low and got as close to the bookshelf as I could without actually touching it. I was out of room; there was but one section of bookcase left before the wall and only two more rows before I'd be stuck in front of the glass storefront.

But I noticed a glimmer of hope; there was a stairwell that led up to the second floor, and it was right ahead of me. I wasted no time in securing this stroke of luck and bolted straight up the stairs. I took them two or three stairs at a time, ascending the stairs faster than I had ever moved before. A shot rang out behind me and plowed into the stairs.

Not even a second later, I was at the top of the stairs. I dove behind the first piece of concealment that I could find and began to scan my surrounding for a solid, sturdy piece of cover. It was then I felt the cold that beginning to sweep my left arm. The bullet had ripped through my jacket, narrowly missing my arm, on its way to its burial in the stairs. I covered the hole with my hand and listened for any sign the bastard was following me up the stairs.

All I heard was the faint, labored breathing of the bastard. Faint, labored breathing that was getting no closer.

I jolted up onto me feet, but remained crouched.

"Really? You're running upstairs?" he panted. "Come on you pussy! Don't be a little bitch!"

"We had to take some of your shit! We were starving, man!"

"Like I give a fuck!"

I maneuvered my way around the circular shirt racks and began to make my way towards the shortest, cleanest and most open path to the other side of the building. Unfortunately that route was dangerously near the railing. I crept along, nearly crawling on all fours as the bastard went on a profanity and taunt laced tirade below. I was nearing the corner that marked the backside of the building when the glass railing shattered as a deafening pop rang out.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" He yelled as I scrambled backwards.

"You've already gotten your supplies back! And then some! If you just walk away we can end this bullshit now!"

I started moving again, more quickly this time but just as low, trying to cover as much distance as possible while he was distracted.

"You know many men you've killed? How many supplies have lost trying to find you? It was a hell of a lot more than you returned."

"We were acting in self defense!" Another shot shattered the glass railing, but this one fell several feet behind me. "We tried to return the supplies when your men found us! We were starving!"

"Yet you still killed them!"

"They were going to execute us!"

"That's what thieves and murders get!"

"I didn't fucking murder anybody!" Another shot rang out, this one ripping a hole in the back of my jacket.

"Now now, why would I believe that? Why would I trust the word of a man who fears for his life? I'd imagine you'd say just about anything to get out of this situation. Besides, even if you are telling the truth, you still ran with the thieves and murders, which makes you guilty all the same. We have hungry people too, yours are not special. Your group didn't even TRY to at LEAST negotiate!"

"That was my idea! I suggested we do that! You guys fired the first shots! Even after that we still tried-"

"ENOUGH! The time for talk is over. You've already made your choice. Now get down here and fight like a man or force me to hunt you down like a dog."

I rounded the corner and finally arrived on the right side of building. I peered through the glass, catching a glimpse of the bastard below me. I watched him scan the glass railing, backpedaling before his gaze reached the right side.

With a hunched back, I approached the stairwell. This was it. If I was ever going to leave this situation alive, now was the time.

I made my way down the stairs as quickly and quietly as I could. There was no turning back. I didn't see the bastard, but it didn't matter. Without an enemy in sight, I reached the bottom of the steps and turned towards the storefront.

I took one last look around the building as I began to jog out of the store. I picked up my pace, running as fast as I could without my boots pounding against the floor. I was elated; right in front of me a pane of glass was missing from the storefront. Nothing separated me from my sweet escape, and the continuous stream of snow from the sky meant that any tracks left behind on my way to safety would be covered up quickly enough for me to put enough distance between us to render the bastard's tracking skills irrelevant. This was it. Just past one more row of bookshelves and I was home free.

Something slammed into my chest.

I had never been hit with such a force before; not even while under the military's totalitarian control of a safe zone. The follow up blow of my body impacting the ground at running speed wasn't far off either, and I suddenly found myself struggling to breath.

I heard a dampened thud shortly before a hand grasped the clothes on my chest and forced up me up from my position writhing on the ground. I found myself on my knees, looking up at the bastard standing above me.

"Like a dog it is then," he said as he walked around me. "You know, I'm just following orders. Enforcing the law, our laws. For what it's worth," he said as he set the barrel of his pistol against the back of my head. "It's nothing personal."


End file.
